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EDWIN B. HORN, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS. Letters Patent No. 72,641, dated December 24-, 1867.

IMPROVEMENT Ihl STEM WIIIDING WATCHES.

TO ALL WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

Be it known that I, EDWIN B. HORN, of Boston, in the eounty of Suffolk, and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Stem-Winding Watches; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

The nature of my invention consists, first, in attaching to and placing within a ring-gear the main-spring of a watch, said ring-gear being recessed into the face-plate, and being made to wind up the main-spring by means of a small pinion attached to winding-stem; second, in combining the same with a safety-recoil arrangement; third, in a peculiar arrangement of a pair of movable gears, so that though thewinding-stem can turn in but one direction, it acting through a number of gears, may turn the hands of the watch in either direction.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, '1 will proceed to describe its construction and use. In the drawings- .Figure 1 represents in plan the front side of the front plate of a watch.

Figure 2 represents a cross-section through the front of a watch.

Figure 3 is a plan showing part of a front plate of a watch and the arrangement for winding up the mainspring. Y

B in all the figures represents a ring-gear,'running in a sinkage made into the backside of the front plate. This sinkage is of such diameter that it will just hold the ring-gear B and the main-spring C, the ring-gear being held in this sinkage by the plate Q Q, fig. 3, which is represented in the drawings as being partly broken away, so that the ringear B and spring 0 may be'seen. G is a small pinion, attached to the windingstem G, which meshes in the cogs of the. ring-gear B, so that by turning G the ring-gcar B is made to revolve. The main-spring C is attached by one end to the ring-gear B, and by the other end to the arbor K, figs. 2 and 3. Attached rigidly to the arbor K is the small ratchet-wheel E, fig. 3. D represents the driving-wheel, so arranged on the arbor K that it would revolve free of the arbor if it were not for the pawl F and ratchet-wheel E, these being arranged, as shown in the drawings, so that the arbor K may revolve, carrying with it the wheel E, in a backward direction, independent of the driving-wheel D. The object of this arrangement is that when the mainspring breaks, the recoil does not affect the driving-whccl D, but will simply cause the arbor K, with the ratchet wheel E, to revolve a few times in a backward direction, The recoil of the main-spring outwardly against P can cause no damage, as the ring-gear B is supported by the solid plate of the watch. The teeth on the back side of the ring-gear B, shown through the opening of the plate, fig. 1, serve a double purpose: first, they answer as ratchet-teeth, against which the pawl 0, fig. 1, acts, and thus holds thering-goar against the reaction of the main-spring whenever the watch is wound up; second, they mesh into the small. pinion 1?, fig. 1, and cause it to revolve. The pinions P P, fig. 1, are hung by pivots upon the lovers L L, and may he moved by simply operating the lever N. The pinion P is so hung in relation to the teeth on the ring-gear that it always meshes with it, but it may or may not mesh with the pinion P. P always meshes with P, and may or may not mesh with P. The pinions P P, wlien in the position as shown in fig. 1, are free to revolve independent of the hand-pinion P, so that the ring-gear may be revolved, as it is when the watch is wound up without moving the hand-pinion P, since neither of the pinions P P meshes with it.

Now, if we wish to set the hands, we proceed as follows: To move them backwards, press the lever N upwards; this, acting through the bent lever L, will throw the pinion Pinto connection with the hand-pinion P, so that if the ring-gear is made to revolve, it will move the hands backwards. To move the hands for ard, press the lever N downward; this, acting through the levers L L, will throw the pinion P into connection -.,.th the hand-pinion, so that if the ring-gear is made to revolve, it will move the hands forward.

I am obliged to use this arrangement of gears, from the fact that the ring-gear D can be revolved in one direction only. It will be seen from the above that when the main-spring is entirely wound up, the hands of the watch cannot be set by my arrangement, since the ring-gear cannot be moved; but when the watch is entirely or partially run down, the hands may be set by simply pressing the lever N up or down, it is desired to move the hands backward or forward,) and turning the winding-stem G.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is 1. Attaching to and placing within the ring-gear B the main-spring of a. wetch, said ring-gear being recessed into the face-plate, and. being made to wind up the main-spring by means of a. small pinion attached to a winding-stem.

1 E endpawl F, in combination with the ring-gear B, when the said ring-gear is used I 2. The ratchet-whee for winding up the main-spring, the whole being made substantially as clescribedgend for the purpose set forth.

3. The combination and arran 'ement ofthe levers L L L", the inions P P, and the rin ear B suba, P v g g a stantially as described, and for the purpose set forth.

EDWIN B. HORN.

Witnesses:

F. W. HORN, WILLIAM E som. 

